Championship: Relentless Leicester win again as they beat Sunderland, while Middlesbrough, Watford and West Brom win | League One: Leaders Portsmouth held | League Two: Notts County, Wrexham and MK Dons win.
Wednesday 25 October 2023 11:37, UK
Leicester edged out Sunderland 1-0 to record an eighth successive league victory that put them eight points clear at the top of the Championship.
Leicester edged out Sunderland 1-0 to record an eighth successive league victory that put them eight points clear at the top of the Championship.
James Justin's first-half header was enough to separate the sides after he headed home Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's 12th-minute corner, his first league goal for the club in more than two years.
Leicester had twice hit the post in the first half and passed up a number of chances to add to their lead but it did not matter as Sunderland slumped to a third consecutive defeat, missing a late chance to grab a point when Abdoullah Ba skied over late on.
Second-placed Ipswich have two games in hand on the leaders, the first comes at Bristol City on Wednesday.
West Brom moved back into the top six with a 2-0 win over 10-player QPR that piled the pressure on Gareth Ainsworth.
Grady Diangana was at the centre of affairs, winning the 59th-minute penalty from which Brandon Thomas-Asante put West Brom ahead and for which Jimmy Dunne earned a second yellow card for protesting against, and then making sure of the win nine minutes later.
It was a fifth straight defeat for QPR, who had arrived at The Hawthorns late to force a 10-minute delay to kick-off.
Cardiff are up to sixth after thrashing Huddersfield 4-0, ending a run in which they had taken only one point from three games in emphatic style.
The Bluebirds needed only 90 seconds to take the lead as Josh Bowler pulled the ball back for Callum Robinson to finish with a backheel that took a deflection off Matty Pearson.
Dimitrios Goutas was left unmarked to double the lead in the 12th minute, heading in Joe Ralls' corner.
Yakou Meite then made it three just before the interval as he slammed home confidently after Huddersfield failed to clear another Ralls corner.
And Perry Ng curled in a 55th-minute free-kick after Robinson was fouled.
Middlesbrough are level on points with Cardiff in seventh after a 2-1 win over Norwich at Carrow Road, their sixth consecutive league win.
Sam Greenwood opened the scoring in the first minute of the second half and substitute Sammy Silvera had a second in stoppage time, albeit with enough time remaining for Jonathan Rowe to pull one back for the hosts.
Blackburn sit just one point off the play-off places after Callum Brittain's first goal for the club helped them to a 2-1 win over managerless Millwall at The Den.
Millwall had led when Wes Harding headed home just three minutes in, a moment Rovers goalkeeper Leopold Wahlstedt will not want to see again, but a goalkeeping mistake at the other end allowed Blackburn to level in the 22nd minute as Joe Rankin-Costello's shot squirmed under Bartosz Bialkowski.
Brittain then got what proved to be the winner six minutes into the second half after being played into space by James Hill, bending a shot into the top corner.
Ken Sema's first goal of the season was enough for Watford to earn a 1-0 win over Swansea.
Sema hit a powerful shot eight minutes from time to lift the Hornets away from the relegation zone.
Portsmouth goalkeeper Will Norris spared his side's blushes as the Sky Bet League One leaders saw their six-match winning run grind to a halt in a goalless draw at Cambridge.
The struggling hosts came close to snatching all three points but Jack Lankester's point-blank effort was brilliantly saved by Norris in the 71st minute.
Pompey extended their lead at the top to four points after second-placed Oxford slumped to a surprise 2-0 defeat at Wigan, Stephen Humphrys and Callum Lang grabbing a goal in each half for Latics.
Third-placed Barnsley brushed aside Shrewsbury 3-0 with Herbie Kane's early penalty followed by goals from Callum Styles and Devante Cole.
Eoin Toal's late header and an 89th-minute penalty from Aaron Morley gave Bolton a dramatic 4-2 win at Wycombe, who had battled back from two goals down to level in the 82nd minute through David Wheeler.
An early goal from Ephron Mason-Clark extended Peterborough's unbeaten run to eight games as they won 1-0 at nosediving Port Vale.
Blackpool almost blew a three-goal lead but held on to squeeze past bottom club Cheltenham 3-2, while Chris Martin's late strike helped Bristol Rovers end a two-game losing streak with a 1-1 draw against Stevenage.
Goals from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Conor Washington saw Derby bounce back from Saturday's shock loss to Shrewsbury with a 2-0 win over Exeter, who have now lost six in a row.
There was more woe for struggling Reading who fell to a 2-1 home defeat against Fleetwood, for whom Josh Vela scored the winner in the second minute of time added on.
Joe Garner's late strike gave Carlisle a 2-1 win over Burton, while a Hakeeb Adelakun double helped Lincoln end Charlton's seven-match unbeaten run with a 3-1 win at Sincil Bank.
Shaq Forde scored in the sixth minute of added time to rescue a point for Leyton Orient in a 2-2 draw at Northampton, who had Kieron Bowie sent off in the 58th minute.
League Two leaders Stockport made it nine wins on the spin as second-half goals from Kyle Wootton and Isaac Oloafe helped them to a 2-0 win at Crewe.
Notts County stay two points behind after Macaulay Langstaff's double secured a 3-0 home win over Newport, while Elliot Lee's 89th-minute effort gave third-placed Wrexham a 2-1 win over bottom club Sutton.
Lucas Akins scored twice as Mansfield extended their unbeaten start to the season to 14 games with a 4-1 win at Harrogate, but managerless Bradford slumped to defeat by the same scoreline at MK Dons, handing the hosts their first win in 10 league games.
Accrington put off-field issues behind them as they won 4-2 at AFC Wimbledon, Matt Smith's hat-trick saw Salford cruise to a 3-0 win at Doncaster, while Connor Mahoney's 22nd-minute strike gave Gillingham a 1-0 win at Swindon.
Struggling Colchester ended a run of four straight defeats with a 3-2 win at Grimsby, Arthur Read grabbing the winner in the 64th minute.
Forest Green slumped to second from bottom after a 2-0 home defeat to Barrow, while Tranmere are only above the drop zone on goal difference after Jordan Turnbull's late strike secured a 1-0 win for hosts Morecambe.
Walsall and Crawley shared the points in a 1-1 draw at the Bescot Stadium, with Danilo Orsi equalising for the visitors in stoppage time.
